7 tips to develop patience

April 9, 2013

I have a confession to make. Patience is very difficult to me. I like things to move quickly. I don’t like delays. I don’t like to wait. Patience does not come easily for me.

I know I am not the only one who struggles with patience. It is a universal problem. We have become an impatient and oftentimes angry culture. We see it at work. We see it in school. We see it on the highways. Our culture is in constant hurry up mode.

Here’s the problem with our lack of patience. There are many things in life that just can’t be rushed. They will take time to achieve. Sometimes there will be signs of progress and other times we will need to just wait patiently for things to run their course. If we don’t develop patience then we might miss out altogether as we bail out just before the big breakthrough.

7 tips to develop patience

See the destructive side of impatience .. frustration, anger, strained relationships.

Accept that patience can be very difficult.

Keep focused on the end results and be prepared to make short-term sacrifices for long-term gains. In our “instant” and “self- gratifying” society it can be difficult to work hard at something for a long time before we see the rewards. Although having 2 minute noodles, instant coffee, faster internet access and credit cards with generous spending limits means that we can get what we want very quickly, patience and waiting are still necessary for the big and important items of life.

Keep yourself occupied with other things and use the waiting time constructively.

Practice contentment with the present instead of seeing that you will only be happy and successful when you have reached your goals.

8 responses to 7 tips to develop patience

I lived and worked as a university lecturer in Malawi in Central Africa for 10 years and one thing I learned there was how to wait. There’s a rhythm to life and it’s good to find it. Trying to make other people go faster than they are comfortable with just makes everyone unhappy. I once suggested to my students that something would save them time. They looked at me in amazement. “Why would we want to do that?” they asked. I would add to your list “slow down your breathing.” It’s a yoga technique but does help.

Excellent post Kevin, something many should read. I found more patience waiting now that I have a cell phone that can do many things. I no longer feel that “hurry up line” mentality anymore. Take away the phone though and it may be harder to have patience waiting. I also find patience helps when you are trying to solve a problem, the more patience you have the better you can solve it.